Tiberian Hebrew designates the canonical yet extinct pronunciation of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh and related documents. This traditional medieval pronunciation was committed to writing by Masoretic scholars based in the Jewish community of Tiberias in the period ca.
Ehud ben‑Gera ' onMouseout='HidePop("10599")' href="http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Tiberian_vocalization">Tiberian
Tiberian Hebrew designates the canonical yet extinct pronunciation of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh and related documents. This traditional medieval pronunciation was committed to writing by Masoretic scholars based in the Jewish community of Tiberias in the period ca. 750-950 CE...
; in the
BiblicalThe Bible contains the central religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. Modern Judaism generally recognizes a single set of canonical books known as the Tanakh, or Hebrew Bible, as it is written almost entirely in the Hebrew language, with some small portions in Aramaic...
Book of JudgesThe Book of Judges is a book of the Bible originally written in Hebrew. It appears in the Tanakh and in the Christian Old Testament...
(3:12–4:1) was the judge who fought against the Moabites, which were ruled by King
EglonEglon may refer to:*Eglon, Canaana Biblical city*Eglon , a Biblical king*Eglon, West Virginia, a community in the U.S. state of West Virginia*Eglon, Washington, a community in the U.S. state of Washington on the Kitsap Peninsula...
. Ehud had made a short double-edged sword about a foot and a half long useful for a stabbing thrust. He then hid the sword by strapping it to his right thigh under his clothing and met the king under the pretense of giving him tribute. Being
left-handedLeft-handedness is the preference for the left hand over the right for everyday activities such as writing. Most left-handed people exhibit some degree of ambidexterity...
, he could conceal the sword on the side where it was not expected.
Ehud then tricked Eglon by saying he had a secret message intended for the king. Eglon sent all of his attendants away to hear the message, and Ehud drew his sword, saying, "I have a message from God for you", and stabbed the king. Eglon was eviscerated by the blow, which punctured his intestines: "and the dirt came out." ("Dirt" here euphemistically refers to excrement;
NOAB, Judges 3:21–22, footnote.)
After killing Eglon, Ehud locked the doors to the king's chamber and left. Eglon's assistants came back to check on the king but when they found the doors locked they assumed the king was relieving himself. They "waited to the point of embarrassment" until they finally unlocked the door and went in, where they found their king dead. Ehud escaped during this time and made it to the town of Seriah. He then led the tribe of
EphraimEphraim was, according to the Book of Genesis, the second son of Joseph and Asenath, and the founder of the Israelite Tribe of Ephraim; however some Biblical scholars view this as postdiction, an eponymous metaphor providing an aetiology of the connectedness of the tribe to...
to seize the fords of the
Jordan RiverThe Jordan River or River Jordan is a river in Southwest Asia which flows into the Dead Sea. It is considered to be one of the world's most sacred rivers...
, where they killed about 10,000 Moabite soldiers.
After the death of Eglon, king of Moab, there was peace in the land for 80 years.
Etymology
The etymology is unknown. According to Amos Chacham medieval rabbis favored one of two explanations. Some, like the
Vilna GaonElijah ben Shlomo Zalman, known as the Vilna Gaon or Elijah of Vilna and simply by his Hebrew acronym Gra , , was an exceptional Talmudist, Halachist, Kabbalist, and the foremost leader of non-hasidic world Jewry of the past few centuries...
claimed that the original name was אחוד (Eḥud) and that the
ḥetHeth may refer to:* Heth , a letter in many Semitic alphabets* Children of Heth, a Canaanite nation in the Hebrew Bible, purportedly named after Heth, son of Canaan, son of Ham, son of Noah* figures in the Book of Mormon:...
became a
heHe is the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets, including Phoenician , Aramaic, Hebrew , Syriac and Arabic . Its sound value is a voiceless glottal fricative ....
. חוד relates to "unity". Others claimed that the name is related to hod הוד, "glory". Since
Eliezer Ben-YehudaEliezer Ben‑Yehuda was a key figure in the revival of Hebrew as a spoken language. Ben-Yehuda regarded Hebrew and Zionism as symbiotic: "The Hebrew language can live only if we revive the nation and return it to the fatherland," he wrote...
, when he revived modern Hebrew, could not find a Biblical root, he searched for an Arabic cognate and settled on "hawadah", to treat with indulgence or kindness. Israelis often identify the word with beloved, support, or friend. None of these claims are accepted by contemporary linguists as legitimate etymologies or translations.
Name
The name "Ehud" is not attested as a first name among
JewThe Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
s until the 20th Century. However,
ZionismZionism is the international political movement that originally supported the reestablishment of a homeland for the Jewish People in Palestine. The area was the Jewish Biblical homeland, called the Land of Israel...
—as part of its nation-building process—strongly encouraged using the names of Jewish heroes and warriors of ancient times, including that of Ehud. As a result, it has become a common name in contemporary
IsraelIsrael officially the State of Israel , is a developed state in Western Asia located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its...
.
Two Prime Ministers of Israel have had the first name Ehud:
Ehud BarakEhud Barak is an Israeli politician, former Prime Minister, and current Minister of Defense, deputy prime minister and leader of Israel's Labor Party....
and
Ehud OlmertEhud Olmert is an Israeli political figure, and former Prime Minister of Israel having served from 2006 to 2009. Olmert was the mayor of Jerusalem from 1993 to 2003. In 2003 he was elected to the Knesset and became a minister and Acting Prime Minister in the government of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon...
.
Israelis named Ehud are often nicknamed "Udi".
External links